3 Weeks in Prague for $2500

While enrolled at the University of New Orleans, Steve studied abroad during the summer of 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic. Since the trip had specific arrival and departure dates, we paid a bit more than our budget travel guide would recommend. We each spent $1400 to get us from New Orleans to Prague and back.

We search for flights through Kayak which has a lot of tools to help us find the cheapest route. For this particular trip, we found that it was cheaper for us to buy each flight individually; we flew from New Orleans to New York where we gathered our bags and checked back into the terminal to fly from New York to Prague. We also did this on our way back into the United States.

Budget travel isn’t always pretty: we spent 13 hours outside of the JFK terminal before taking off for Europe. We were exhausted and dirty, but we were on a great adventure!

I had saved $1,000 for food, housing, and attractions while in Prague. I was just tagging along on Steve’s study abroad trip, but we were both able to stay in a dormitory about 4 miles outside of the city centre. The dormitory stay for 3 weeks cost me $400. Residence halls are a great place to stay while traveling. If you’re a student, we recommend trying this option (especially in the summer when they have vacant rooms).

The Czech Republic Koruna is about 24.63 to 1 US dollar. If something cost us 325 Koruna, that was about $13 American dollars. Our meals were rarely over 500 Koruna combined. The best part about this trip was that we didn’t have to be super frugal to make our cash last. We bought fruit, water, bread, sandwich meat, and snacks from the local grocery, but we ate one meal at a restaurant almost everyday.

Prague had a lot of cheap or free things to do. Just walking around Prague felt like an activity; we’d usually happen upon a mural, a park, or a gelato stand. Attractions were cheap, though. We went paddle boating on the Vltava river for less than $5. We climbed to the top of the Petřín Lookout Tower for less than $3 where we could see all of Prague. The Prague Zoo was $6 with a student ID, and we highly recommend it. Prague Castle can be admired and enjoyed from the outside, but a ticket to see the other exhibits costs around $14.

For transportation, we purchased monthly tram passes and were able to hop on and off anytime to get us all over the city. I was able to purchase a monthly pass underground in one of the subway stations, but individual passes can be bought from little machines that are located all over the city. You don’t actually have to show anyone your tram pass when you board, but if a police officer asks you to show your pass, you ought to have it.

Prague was convenient, budget friendly, and stunning. If you want to know more about our experience in Prague, we’ll have another post soon detailing the best parts of our trip!